JERUSALEM (AP) — An extremist Israeli lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition publicly advocated killing “30 or 40” people in Gaza each night, comments that emerged Sunday and were quickly shared by Palestinian media. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir made the statement while speaking with a former hostage held in Gaza, Rom Braslavski, on Braslavski’s podcast. The two were discussing Israel’s recovery from the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, when Ben-Gvir criticized Israel’s recent reduction in attacks on Gaza. “It’s no secret, I don’t agree with the prime minister,” he said. “I think targeted killings should be carried out in Gaza, killing between 30 and 40 people every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat: there are people there who are not worthy of living. They should not live. They are not even people.” In the past, similar statements by Ben-Gvir and other Israeli officials were widely condemned. Many have been presented to the UN world court as evidence of genocidal intent. Israel denies committing genocide in Gaza. Israel’s national media has made little mention of the statement, highlighting how once-fringe ideologies like Ben-Gvir’s are surging in the run-up to the October 27 Israeli elections. Figures like Ben-Gvir have become more popular among Israelis since the brutal Hamas attack in 2023, when militants killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Many hostages have reported prolonged starvation, physical and psychological abuse and, in some cases, sexual abuse. Ben-Gvir oversees Israel’s police force and prisons. Ben-Gvir has no power over the country’s military and cannot order attacks on Gaza. But, after operating for decades within Israel’s far-right, he is now one of the most influential people in the country. It has substantial control over key parts of Israel’s security apparatus, managing the country’s prisons – where thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank are imprisoned – as well as the national police force. He had previously boasted of reducing food rations for Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s highest court ruled in 2025 that the Ben-Gvir prison service was depriving Palestinians of a minimum subsistence diet. Ben-Gvir criticizes reduction in Israeli attacks on Gaza Until recently, Israel attacked Gaza almost every day, attacks that have killed more than 1,250 people since a truce agreement went into effect in October, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel’s military, which says the strikes have targeted Hamas militants, appeared to scale back attacks in a quiet concession to U.S. President Donald Trump after Netanyahu rejected the president’s latest attempt to advance the truce. Israeli media reported last week that the authority to carry out attacks has now been limited to the army chief of staff, drawing the ire of right-wing lawmakers like Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir advocates mass emigration, expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza In the same recorded appearance, the lawmaker advocated for mass emigration of Palestinians from Gaza (a proposal that international lawyers say could amount to ethnic cleansing) and resettlement of Gaza by Israel. Twenty years ago, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, dismantled a bloc of 21 Jewish settlements known as “Gush Katif” and withdrew its forces. Subscribe to Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the day’s biggest headlines. “I see all of Gaza as ours,” Ben-Gvir said in the interview. “Settlements not only in Gush Katif but throughout Gaza, encouraging as much emigration as possible, sending them to their countries, and for the terrorists, no emigration, nothing, just killing them one by one.” Trump’s latest proposal involves Hamas gradually giving up its weapons as Israeli forces stop their attacks and begin withdrawing from Gaza. Hamas accepted the deal, although it linked the delivery of its heaviest weapons to the creation of a Palestinian state, something that Israel’s current government and most of its political class flatly reject. Netanyahu says Israel will not withdraw from any of its positions in Gaza until Hamas has been completely disarmed. The stance leaves other elements of the ceasefire on hold, including the deployment of international forces and any reconstruction of the devastated territory.
